New Mexico Invitational Day 1 Results (pdf)
Behind its best Nordic performance of the season, the Montana State ski team sits in third place at the University of New Mexico Invitational, after the opening day of competition with 363 points.
New Mexico sits atop the standings after the giant slalom and classical events with 470 points, followed by Colorado 428, MSU, Utah 362, Denver 349, Nevada 320, Alaska-Anchorage 292 and Wyoming 103.
The MSU Nordic team alone notched 218 points on Friday as the women’s squad had three racers in the top ten, and the men with two.
Casey Kutz had her best race as a Bobcat placing third overall in the 5-kilometer race in a time of 17:37, while Kaelin Kiesel and Rachelle Kanady finished sixth and tenth, respectively.
Also finishing for MSU were Mellie Park, 16th and Corrine Malcolm, 17th.
New Mexico’s Polina Emoshina won the women’s individual crown in 16:56.
Junior Ryan Scott was another Montana State racer who posted a season-best mark. The Boulder, Colo., native finished third in the men’s 10k event in a time of 29:02.
Also scoring points for the Bobcats were Bernhard Roenning, eighth, and Tyler Reinking, 11th. Luke Bromley and Drew Scott finished 18th and 19th overall for MSU, respectively.
UNM’s Martin Waaler Kaas, who has owned the men’s RMISA Nordic circuit this winter, finished first in 28:55.
Montana State’s alpine squad was led by its outstanding freshmen trio of Michael Mackie, Chris Barber and Geoff Irwin.
Mackie finished eight overall in the giant slalom with a two-run total of 2:06.31, while Barber and Irwin placed 18th and 19th, respectively. Senior Toby LaMar placed 28th overall to complete MSU’s day.
On the women’s side, Hannah Victory guided MSU placing 26th overall. She was followed by Amy Lattimer 28th, Ali Leighton 29th, Carmel McElroy 30th, Terra Moran 30th, and Megan Bacharach 35th.
MSU’s third place finish on Friday was its best one-day total of the season.
The UNM Invitational will conclude with the slalom and freestyle events on Saturday.